Empires of the Imagination: A Critical Survey of Fantasy Cinema from Georges Melies to The Lord of the Rings

The warlocks and ghosts of fantasy film haunt our popular culture, but the genre has too long been ignored by critics. This comprehensive critical survey of fantasy cinema demonstrates that the fantasy genre amounts to more than escapism. Through a meticulously researched analysis of more than a century of fantasy pictures—from the seminal work of Georges Melies to Peter Jackson's recent tours of Middle-earth—the work identifies narrative strategies and their recurring components and studie...